Sinister Six (Earth-616)
Spider-Man himself had his own problems, as he had somehow lost his powers and prepared to return to normal life as a teenager. While blaming himself for the death of his uncle Ben Parker, Spidey lost his balance and fell down the side of a building, landing and clinging to a flagpole. As Peter returned to his normal life as a student and a freelance photographer, he was unaware of the fact that the Sinister Six realised the Daily Bugle secretary Betty Brant played a large role in Spider-Man's life and kidnapped her, along with an innocent bystander - aunt May Parker. It was then left to the Vulture to spill the beans to J. Jonah Jameson, warning him to inform Spider-Man that Betty was being held hostage along with Aunt May and if he wanted to see them alive, he'd have to battle the Sinister Six. Despite not having his powers, Peter put on his Spider-Man costume and went to fight Electro at an electrical plant. During the battle, Peter somehow regained his superpowers (It was speculated to be a psychological block, caused by his own self-loathing for the loss of his uncle, which he got over when facing a life-or-death situation) and easily defeated Electro. Spidey then battled against Kraven the Hunter- who confronted him with some wild cats- and defeated this foe too. After defeating Mysterio (who utilized robotic duplicates of the original X-Men, the Sandman (who trapped the wall-crawler and himself in an indestructible, airless chamber, and the Vulture, Spidey went up against Doc Ock, who lured him into an enormous fishbowl. The two foes battled and Spider-Man was victorious. All six super-villains were subsequently sent to prison. Many years later, the villains all escaped prison and went to get revenge on the wall-crawler. However, times had changed as Kraven had committed suicide, so the Hobgoblin took his place. The group was organized once again by Dr. Octopus, who claimed they would try to defeat Spider-Man. However, this was a trick, part of a larger plan by which Octavius alone would be the master of the world. The Sandman, at this point in his career reformed, aided Spider-Man in defeating the Sinister Six, ultimately stopping Octavius's plans to conquer the world. A few months later, the group reunited once more in a bid to take over the world using alien weaponry. Sandman's foster family was hit with a bomb, and Sandman, believing Octopus had attacked them as punishment for betraying him, joined the other members of the Sinister Six in a plan to take revenge upon Octopus. Despite his grief, however, Sandman contacted Spider-Man and asked him to shadow the group as insurance against him being double-crossed or unexpected surprises. By this point, Octopus had already obtained his lost adamnantium arms (by killing a wealthy, unethical individual who offered to sell the arms to him) and stealing the old man's robot soldiers and weapons. Octopus easily defeated the other members of the Six with them, then zapped Sandman with a weapon that transformed his living sand body into solid glass (Octopus, however, was apparently not responsible for the bombing of Sandman's foster family, which was apparently done by the other members of the Six in order to coerce Sandman into joining their revenge scheme; in addition, Octopus had not only anticipated the Six's plan to reassemble and take revenge upon him, but had deliberately facilitated it, even secretly paying Electro to help ensure the Six reassembled so that he could coerce the other members into aiding his scheme). The assembled Sinister Six went off on a rampage, stealing advanced weapons and technology from several sources, including raiding an alien dimension for advanced weaponry and attacking a facility specializing in cybernetics, in the process having several successful encounters beating Spider-Man, the Hulk(in his Professor identity), Deathlok, Solo, and others (before acquiring more advanced alien weapons, the Hulk trounced the other members of the Six, then got stomped upon by Octopus because Octavius had the adamnantium arms). Merely defeated in his initial encounter with the Six, Spider-Man was left with hairline fractures on one arm and leg, but was able to pursue them with medical attention including cybernetic casts. Eventually, Spider-Man and several other heroes confronted the villains as they were seizing a HYDRA base to gain access to deadly, world-devastating weapons (during the Six's raiding assaults on various locations, the group engaged in wanton mass murder, simply exterminating anyone who got in their way, shocking Spider-Man, as, despite their lack of scruples, these particular villains didn't generally kill wantonly). The last member of Octavius's Sinister Six was revealed to be Gog, and a combat between members of the super hero community summoned by Spidey (including the Fantastic Four, Nova, the Hulk, and Solo) broke out, ending when the broken-glass body of the Sandman shredded Doctor Octopus, nearly killing him. A variation known as the Sinister Seven was formed by Mysterio to fight Kaine, a defective clone of Spider-Man that was killing villains, including Doctor Octopus and the Grim Hunter (Kraven's son). Eventually Sandman put together another version for the sole purpose of destroying Doctor Octopus and his charge, senator Stewart Ward. When Spider-Man intervened, they were forced to add an extra member to their roster as a replacement for Doc Ock: the enraged Venom. The Sinister Six were defeated again (Ironically, Venom subsequently went on to attack the various members of the Sinister Six, nearly killing the Sandman and badly injuring Electro and Kraven before he and his symbiote were briefly separated from each other). A few years later, Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, had been unmasked to the public and imprisoned after losing a battle to Spider-Man. Defeated but unbowed, Osborn concocted a fiendish contingency plan. He contacted a group of supervillains who also bore grudges against Spider-Man, and all of them had been financed by Osborn's fortunes for years.It was revealed that most supervillains have corporate funding in the Marvel Universe Eager for revenge, the villains agreed to band together, and the Sinister Twelve was formed. The Sinister Twelve was the largest gathering of Spider-Man's enemies of all time. The major villains not part of the Twelve were either deceased (Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter), retired (Molten Man, Hobgoblin), or incarcerated (the Rhino and Doctor Octopus.) Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, was the de facto leader of the Twelve while Osborn was in prison, and it was he who kidnapped Peter Parker's Aunt May and threatened to kill her if Spider-Man did not help Osborn escape from jail. A desperate Spider-Man, with help from the Black Cat, broke Osborn out, only to be confronted with the Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Chameleon, Lizard, Hydro-Man, the Shocker, Hammerhead, Boomerang, and Tombstone. Osborn, now in the guise of the Green Goblin, introduced them as the Sinister Twelve. The final member of the group, Scorpion, shocked everybody present when he arrived, revealing that he had bonded with Eddie Brock's alien symbiote, becoming the new Venom. Although Osborn was displeased with Gargan's new power, he nevertheless watched with glee as the assembled villains converged on the hopelessly outnumbered Spider-Man and Black Cat. Despite the odds, Spider-Man and the Black Cat fought back in a heroic last stand. Before the two could be killed, salvation arrived in the form of Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, Hank Pym and the Fantastic Four, who struck back at the villains. Spider-Man's wife, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, had called S.H.I.E.L.D.. to aid him, as she feared he was heading into a trap. A furious Green Goblin rocketed away and kidnapped her, and Spider-Man pursued him, fighting off Venom, who was trying to stop him. Spider-Man and the Goblin clashed once again upon a bridge (not the one where Gwen Stacy was killed), this time with Mary Jane's life at stake. Finally Osborn gave a vital clue as to Aunt May's whereabouts, and was defeated by a combination of being shot by Mary Jane, struck by lightning, and attacked by Doctor Octopus, who was brainwashed by the police into trying to kill him. The Goblin fell into the river below, and Aunt May was found and saved. In the aftermath, Peter received a pre-sent letter from Osborn, thanking him for all the "excitement" their rivalry has provided over the years and telling him to rest easy until they meet again. The rest of the Sinister Twelve were subdued by the heroes and arrested; Gargan ended up, ironically, in Osborn's old cell. A new version of the Sinister Six apparently banded together during the Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers. Organization Team Leader: Dr. Octopus Founding Members: Electro, the Sandman, the Vulture, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter. Active Members: Dr. Octopus, the Lizard, the Shocker, the Trapster, the Grim Reaper, and the Vulture Former Members: *'Original Line-up:' Dr. Octopus (leader), the Vulture, the Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter *'Second Line-up:' Dr. Octopus (leader), Electro, the Hobgoblin, Mysterio, the Sandman, and the Vulture *'Third Line-up:' Dr. Octopus (leader), Mysterio, the Vulture, the Hobgoblin, Electro, and Gog (replaced the Sandman). *'Mysterio's Sinister Seven:' Mysterio (leader), the Beetle, Scorpia, the Hobgoblin, Electro, the Shocker, and the Vulture *'The Sandman's Sinister Six:' The Sandman (leader), the Vulture, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and Venom (replaced Dr. Octopus, whom the others were planning to kill. *'Sinister Twelve': The Green Goblin (leader), the Vulture, the Chameleon, the Sandman, the Lizard, Electro, Venom, the Shocker, Hammerhead, Hydro-Man, Tombstone, and the Boomerang | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = In other media In the 1994 animated series, the Sinister Six was called the Insidious Six. Fox Kids censors apparently felt that the word Sinister sounded too menacing for a children's program (even though another child's program, X-Men: The Animated Series had Mr. Sinister as a villain). The Insidious Six was formed in the beginning of Season 2 as a two-part episode premiere and it was created by the Kingpin to settle off his debt with his enemy, Silvermane, and consisted of Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Chameleon, Rhino, Scorpion, and Shocker to kill Spider-Man. Unfortunately, their attempt failed. The Insidious Six was formed yet again in the Six Forgotten Warriors five-part episode in Season 5, near the end of the series, by the Kingpin to help him find out what a device called the Doomsday device would do, and due to Mysterio's death when he died in the explosion of his own studio in the Season 4 episode The Haunting of Mary Jane, the Vulture replaced Mysterio. The team was disbanded yet again after the Doomsday device was destroyed by Spider-Man and the five remaining members of the Six Forgotten Warriors in the 1940s and they would never, ever be banded again for any reason (apparently, the show was cancelled seven episodes later but if the show continued for a little longer, the Insidious Six would have been formed again). In the early 90s Capcom released the NES games "Spider-man vesus the Sinister Six". This version of the Six consisted of Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture, Hobgoblin, and Doctor Octopus. Like the original storyline, Spider-man would have to face each of the villains in a location of their choosing, designed to augment their own powers. | Links = }} Category:Sinister Six